


Pretend

by Plushion



Category: Carry On - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: College, Fluff, Humor, M/M, a little angst later, fake dating au, no magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-14
Updated: 2017-11-26
Packaged: 2019-02-02 01:51:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 15,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12717264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Plushion/pseuds/Plushion
Summary: A slightly homophobic professor challenges Simon by assuming he’s straight. But, oh boy, is he wrong.





	1. Pizza

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is ! I hope everyone enjoys. I’m probably going to update every two days so

Simon ran down the halls, rushing past people walking at a normal speed. He needed to get back to his dorm as soon as possible. He needed to talk to his roommate. He needed to talk to Baz. He knew Baz’s next class wasn’t for another hour but he never knows when he’ll actually be in the room.

He finally reaches the door and fishes out his key, unlocking and stumbling in through the doorway. 

Baz is at his desk, looking through a textbook, he turns his head and raises an eyebrow at Simon. 

“I need your help.” Simon pants, closing the door behind him and throwing his backpack on the ground. Luckily his next class isn’t until after dinner. 

“Why would I do that?” Baz looks back at his book. 

Simon and Baz don’t particularly get along. They used to go out of their way to antagonize each other but after having been roommates for roughly two and a half years now, they mostly just ignore each other, with occasional insults thrown around. 

Simon remembers he’s supposed to be talking. 

“Because you’re the only person I know that could help.” He says, no longer panting. 

Baz turns his chair around and sighs when he looks at Simon. 

“Tell me what it is and maybe I’ll help.” He crosses his arms. 

Simon takes a deep breath in before words spill out of his mouth. 

“I was in biology and before class ended some of the students around me were talking about that valentines dance that the school throws even though this is a fucking college. Anyway-- one of the girls that was talking was saying that she was going to bring her girlfriend and everyone was like ‘Aw tell us about your dresses’ and blah blah-“ 

“I don’t see the issue.” Baz interrupts. 

“Shut up! I’m not done. The professor overhears her talking about her girlfriend and just out of nowhere he goes ‘Oh no no. No gays are allowed to bring a date of the same sex.’ And he was all fucking smug about it and so all the students that were talking are going off on him and he said, pointing directly at ME for some reason, ‘The day Simon dates a boy is the day I’ll let same sex couples come to the dance together.’ Like what the fuck? I wasn’t even in the conversation. And he just assumes I’m like the straightest straighty straight straight person in the room? So all of them look at me and I panic so I just go ‘I have a boyfriend.’ And I don’t know why I said that I’m such an idiot but I know there’s lots of other gay couples at the school that were planning the go to the dance and it wouldn’t have been that big of a deal but that stupid professor is the main chaperone so what he says goes. And after I told him that he seemed to reconsider a little bit and he just said ‘Fine.’ and walked away. So now long story short I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend for the next week until after the dance.” He’s out of breath. 

Baz opens his mouth. Then closes it. He furrows his brows and his mouth opens again. 

“Alright.” Is all he says. 

“You’ll do it?!” 

Baz turns back to his work. 

“I said alright, didn’t I?” He grumbles. 

“Thank you!” Simon bounces. 

Baz turns back around when Simon is taking his shoes off. 

“We need to lay out some ground rules.” He says calmly. But his heart is racing. He would be lying if he said he didn’t have small crush on Simon. And by ‘small’ he means tremendous and constantly growing. 

“Okay. What- what’s first?” Simon asks. 

“Well, what exactly are you comfortable with? Obviously everything would be happening outside of this room.” 

“Uh... I guess hand holding. And hugging is okay too. If you’re okay with that.” 

“Sure.” 

“And- and pet names. Maybe?” 

“Okay, what do you want me to call you?” 

“Ah never mind! This is embarrassing!” Simon laughs nervously and flops onto his bed. 

“If you can’t even deal with this you’re not going to be able to sell it out there.” Baz motions to the door. 

“I- I guess you’re right. I still don’t... it’s weird. Talking about the pet names thing.” He mumbles. 

“Okay well I’ll just stick to normal ones then.” 

“Like?” 

“Babe, honey, darling, baby-“ 

Simon winces. 

“What? Is ‘baby’ not good?” Baz asks, surprisingly worried. 

“No it’s- I... ah! God this is weird. I’m gonna go take a walk! We can talk about this later.” He starts to get up. 

“Simon...” 

Simon shivers when Baz says his first name. He winced when he said ‘baby’ because something about that made it set in that they were going to do this.

“If you’re not going to suck it up and get all the awkwardness out of the way I’ll change my mind.” 

“Why are you helping me anyway?” Simon asks. 

“I’m bored.” Baz shrugs. 

“Okay.” Simon sits back on his bed. “Maybe... maybe don’t call me ‘baby’ that just- I don’t know it feels weird.” 

“Alright. You can call me whatever, I don’t care.” 

“So I can call you pumpkin?” Simon smiles mischievously. 

“Okay not that.” Baz laughs and Simon feels warm inside for some reason. He’s never made Baz laugh or smile like that. 

“So, hand holding and hugging.” Simon says. “Should we... walk each other to classes? And just like do stuff together?” Simon’s eyebrows scrunch together. 

“That’s fine by me.” Baz returns to his work. 

“I’m going to get food right after you leave for class. Do you want anything? It’s the least I could as thanks.” 

“You know my schedule?” Baz raises his brows but doesn’t look away from his book. 

“Yeah...” Simon blushes and squirms a little where he sits. 

“Why don’t you just get a pizza and we can share it?” Simon can see him smiling softly. 

“Okay. When are you leaving for class?” 

“Well it’s at the end of the second building west so...” He looks at his alarm clock. “right about now actually.” He closes his book and slides it in his bag. 

“Should I walk you to class?” 

“Sure.” 

They leave the room and Simon takes a deep breath and grabs Baz’s hand, his heart beating fast when Baz intertwines their fingers together. Baz gives his hand a reassuring squeeze and starts walking. 

Simon wonders why Baz is being so nice. It must be because he’s trying to sell the act. 

The college is big, so it’s surprising when just in less than an hour, word got out. Eyes were on them as they walked hand in hand. 

“This is weird.” Simon whispers. 

“Embarrassed to be seen with me?” Baz smirked even though he’s genuinely concerned. 

“No! No, it just feels weird for so many people to be looking.” He answered quietly. 

“They’ll stop eventually.” 

“I still don’t know why you agreed to this.” 

“I told you I was bored. So shut up before I fake dump you.” He smiles. 

Simon laughs. The weight of Baz’s hand in his feels good. He leans into Baz when they have to walk to Baz’s building from the outside. It’s cold and Simon has one hand in his pocket and the other one latched onto Baz’s. 

“Wait what do I do when you get to class?” Simon asks when they’re outside and no one can hear. 

“You don’t have to do anything?” Baz says it like a question. 

“But- it’s gonna look weird that I just walked with you all the way out here and then just leave.” 

“Fine. You just hug me or something.” He sighs but he’s hoping Simon can’t feel his pulse through his fingers. 

“You have to hug me back.”

“Yeah I know how a hug works, Snow.” He rolls his eyes. 

“Shut up.” 

They walk just a minute longer when Baz slows down. 

“Alright.” Baz says disconnecting from Simon. 

Simon doesn’t miss a beat. He gets on his tippy toes and wraps his arms around Baz’s neck. Baz’s arms slink around his waist firmly and his chin rests on Simon’s shoulder, his face is pressed into the side of his head gently. He holds him for a few seconds before squeezing once and pulling apart. 

“Have fun.” Simon smiles so softly Baz thinks he’ll turn into liquid. 

“I’ll try.” He smiles back. 

Baz walks into class and turns back a little to see Simon wave at him. He waves back and Simon leaves. 

Baz can barely focus on his class. So many thoughts are ramming in his head. Like why did Simon ask him of all people? He could have asked any random guy until one said sure. But more importantly he thought about why he even agreed to help him. Some twisted part of him wanted to indulge in all of this even if it was fake and only for a couple weeks. He also hates the fact that Simon even felt the need to go through all of this. He couldn’t just sit back and shut up. 

He just had to be a selfless angel. 

Damn him. 

Simon got back to his room to yell into his pillow for a couple minutes. 

“Why am I doing this?” He whispers to no one in particular. He wonders about so many things. Like why he asked Baz of all people. And why Baz said yes. And why it felt so good to hold his hand and why his heart raced when Baz’s arms circled his waist and held firmly. 

He wonders why he loves the fact that they talk like they’re actually together. He wonders why he loves the fact that he can make Baz smile and laugh and that it makes his chest warm when Baz’s perfect lips part to reveal his even more perfect smile. 

Simon wonders when he started thinking of Baz as perfect.

After a quick shower he throws on sweatpants and a shirt, grabbing a coat and his key before he heads out the door to get dinner. He gets on the campus bus that goes further into town, where he can walk a couple blocks to get pizza. 

It’s warm and smells like bread when he walks in. He goes up to the counter and orders one cheese pizza, assuming Baz likes cheese as well. 

By the time he finally gets back he catches Baz while he’s walking back to the room. 

“Hey!” Simon sprints up to him. 

“Hi.” Baz tucks his hair behind his ear and it makes Simon smile. 

“I got the pizza.” He says as they walk down the hall to the dorm. 

“I can see that.” Baz smirks. 

Simon nudges him and rolls his eyes. They reach the door and Baz unlocks it, walking in and holding it open for Simon. He says thanks and sets the pizza down on his desk. 

“I saw that girl you were talking about earlier.” Baz says in between bites pizza. 

“Trixie?” 

“Yeah. She asked about us.” 

“What did you say?” 

“I told her we were dating.” 

“But what did she ask? We haven’t made a backstory yet.” Simon sips his soda. 

“She asked how long we’ve been together and I said 3 months because that sounded realistic.” 

“Okay that’s good. Did she ask anything else?” 

“No, we just talked a little before class after that.” 

“About what?” 

“Not important.” Baz finishes his pizza and pulls a coat on. “I’m going for a walk. Do you want to come?” 

“Sure.” 

Simon should stay and do his homework because his last class is only an hour away. But he really likes hanging out with Baz now that they get along and he gets to hold his hand and hug him and and see him smile. So he holds Baz’s hand and walks close to him when they step outside and follow a trail. 

There’s not even anyone around but neither of them say anything about it. Baz suddenly takes both of their hands and stuffs them together in his coat pocket. 

“Cold.” Is all he says, sniffing slightly. 

“We’ve only been out for like 10 minutes.” 

“Yeah. And it’s cold.” 

“Let’s start walking back.” 

When they turn around it starts snowing. 

“Let’s hurry.” Simon says, tugging Baz along. 

Baz laughs and sprints with Simon. They get back to their room and let go of each other, catching their breath. Baz rakes a hand through Simon’s hair. Simon’s eyes widen and he blushes. 

“You had snow in your hair.” Baz covers up. He wasn’t even thinking. But Simon’s curly mop of hair felt like soft yarn and he makes note to do it again whenever they’re out together, do he can use that as an excuse. 

“T-thanks.” Simon stutters. 

Simon’s phone goes off and he furrows his brows. 

“I got an email.” He reads it quickly. “My last class is canceled due to the snow. Has it gotten worse?” He walks to the window and looks through the blinds. “Woah.” 

The snow has gotten increasingly worse. What was a light dusting has now become a borderline blizzard. 

“We might be snowed in tomorrow.” Baz says from behind him. 

“Good thing I’ve got Netflix huh?” 

Baz laughs and sits on his bed, pulling his phone out of his pocket. 

Simon sits at his desk and quickly does his homework. When he’s done he puts his work away he grabs a slice of the leftover pizza from the mini fridge. 

“Hungry already?” Baz laughs.

“Of course.”

Simon suggests they find a movie to watch on his laptop. Baz lets him sit beside him on his bed while they watch. 

When they finish the movie Simon yawns. 

“I’m going to go take a shower.” Baz says and gets up. 

“Okay. I think I’m gonna go to bed.” 

“Alright. Goodnight, Snow.” Baz laughs when Simon stumbles to his bed. 

“Goodnight, Baz.”


	2. Snowfall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mwah

Chapter two 

When Baz got out of the shower Simon was sound asleep. Baz smiled a little and got into his own bed. He found himself drifting off within minutes. 

Simon wakes up to his alarm going off, quickly turning it off before Baz woke up. He checks his phone to see that classes were canceled and he hopped up from the bed to look out the window. There was an incredible amount of snow. Unfortunately it’s Friday instead of the middle of the week so the snow would probably be cleared by Sunday. 

He decides he could get a little more sleep and crawls back into bed. He wakes up again to a thud and Baz groaning loudly on the floor.

“What happened?” Simon mumbles, sitting up tiredly. 

“My fucking toe hit the fucking dresser. Fuck.” 

Simon laughs at his excessive swearing. 

“Don’t laugh, idiot.” 

Simon tries to control himself. 

“Are you alright?” 

“I’ll survive I think.” 

“That’s good. What time is it.”

“You’ve got a clock you know.” Baz says. Simon sighs and turns towards the clock. 

“Shit it’s 9:30. The cafeteria stops serving breakfast at 10.” Simon says and stumbles out of bed. 

“Do you want me to come?” 

“Yeah I gotta brush my teeth first. And pee.” 

“Didn’t need to know all of that but thanks.” 

Simon indeed pees and brushes his teeth and him and Baz leave in the clothes they slept in, pretty much everyone in their building does that anyway. They start walking before Simon remembers they’re supposed to be ‘dating’. 

“Oh.” Simon says and grabs Baz’s hand, rubbing his eye tiredly with the other hand. Baz just shakes his head with a soft smirk. 

When they get to the cafeteria Simon is still trudging along and walking so slowly that Baz feels bad for anyone stuck behind them. He hears someone say “Simon is so cute.” and immediately turns his head to glare, tugging Simon to him a little bit and looking back and smiling softly when Simon stumbles and puts a hand on Baz’s stomach for balance. 

Simon is too tired to even be embarrassed by any of this. He heard the person too and he got all warm inside knowing that Baz was probably glaring daggers at them, and then when Baz pulled him close he nearly fell down. But he loved every second of it. 

Baz pulls a tray out of the stack and puts it on the counter. 

“What do you want?” He asks Simon, still holding his hand. 

“Scones. Please.” He says with heavy eyes. 

“How many?” 

Simon just holds up two fingers. Baz puts two on a plate for him. He gets himself some eggs and bacon, adding extra because he knows Simon will eat some of it. 

“Orange juice?” He asks when he reaches the drinks. Simon nods. Baz lets go of his hands to hold the tray and starts walking to an empty table but looks back to see Simon practically falling asleep standing up like a horse. He rolls his eyes and walks back, dangerously holding the tray with one hand so he can grab Simon’s and pull him along. 

“How did you manage to brush your teeth and go to the bathroom while being this tired?” 

“Almost fell asleep like 5 times.” 

“But you got more sleep than me.” 

“I dunno. It’s like the more sleep I get the tireder I am the next day.” He shrugs. 

“Just eat.” 

Simon eats his scones and finishes his juice in the same amount of time it takes for Baz to finish just his eggs. 

“Can I have some bacon?” He points at it and looks up at Baz with puppy eyes. 

“Yeah.” 

Simon smiles and takes a couple pieces, munching happily. “Thank you.” He says. 

“You can have my juice if you want.” 

Simon perks up even more. His heart beats a little fast at the thought of something touching his lips that had just touched Baz’s. And it beats even faster when he realizes that he really really wants to know what it would be like to touch his lips directly. He gets so distracted in his thoughts he doesn’t hear or even see the person standing in front of him. 

“...Simon?” Baz says from beside him. 

“Hmm?” He swallows the citrus and looks at Baz and then at the person standing across the table. “Oh, Trixie, hey.” 

“Hey.” She smiles. “Me and my girlfriend were wondering if you guys would want to go on a double date with us.” 

Simon’s mind goes blank because him and Baz never covered this topic so he turns to him to just see his brows raised and his mouth turned in a neutral yet questioning position. He turns back to Trixie. 

“Sure! When were you guys thinking would be a good day?” Simon asks her. 

“Is Sunday good? At the campus cafe at around 12, for lunch.” 

“Yeah that’s good.” Simon confirms.

“Great! We’ll see you guys then!” She chirps and waves as she walks off. 

“What I just agree to?” Simon groans. 

“Maybe it won’t be that bad.” Baz puts an arm around his shoulder and smiles when Simon leans into him. 

“Are we just gonna watch movies all day?” Simon asks. 

“If you don’t fall asleep, then sure.” 

“Shut up I’m awake now.” Simon nuzzles into his shoulder and eats the last piece of bacon on the plate. 

“Are you ready to go now?” 

Simon just sighs and Baz squeezes his shoulder a little. 

“Yeah let’s go.”

Baz pulls away from Simon to go put the dishes in the tub where they’re supposed to go and the tray back in its place. 

He comes back to Simon and offers a hand, which Simon quickly accepts and lets Baz pull him up. 

When they get back to the room simon flops on his bed and pulls his laptop out. 

“Are you just gonna lay on your stomach like that?” Baz asks. 

“It’s comfortable but no, I’ll probably flip over.” And then after Netflix loads, he does flip over. “Join me.” He pats the place beside him.

Baz hesitates because last night they had only sat together, not laid. But he pushes the anxiety down and lays where Simon told him to. 

“What do you want to watch?” Simon asks. 

“Something scary.” 

“Alright, But don’t get mad when I sleep with the lamp on.” 

“Do you really get that scared?” 

“It depends on the movie.” He shrugs. 

They pick a scary movie and Simon jumps a couple times but he doesn’t find it that scary. So they just talk for a while. About projects and what they want to do as careers and just some random stuff like favorite colors and flowers and music. They realize they’ve been just laying beside each other and talking for hours. 

They skipped lunch and decided to just head down for a slightly early dinner. 

“Oh no.” Simon stops walking when they’re holding hands, halfway to the cafeteria. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“We’re still in our pajamas.” 

“Do you care?” 

Simon ponders for a moment. 

“Not really.” 

“Good.” 

They continue walking. They get dinner and sit and talk and eat. It’s not until around half an hour later when they finally start to go back to the dorm room. 

“I’m gonna take a shower.” Simon says as he grabs a change of clothes. 

“Don’t use all the hot water because I’m gonna take one after you.” 

Simon just nods and bites his tongue because he wants to joke about them showering together to save water but he’s worried it will end up coming out as serious. And while he really wouldn’t turn down the offer, he doesn’t want Baz to know that. 

So he takes a quick shower and does his best not to think about Baz because he doesn’t... well... he doesn’t want to make the shower any longer. 

He steps out, dries off, and puts his fresh clothes on. When he leaves the bathroom, Baz goes in and Simon hears the shower turn back on after a moment. 

Simon thinks he couldn’t be more of a creep so he steeps to a new low. He sits on the edge of Baz’s bed, fully prepared to hop off of it if the shower suddenly stops. He leans over and presses his face into Baz’s pillow and inhales through his nose. He really has lost his mind. He almost doesn’t notice the shower go off a minute later. But he does and he quickly hops to his own bed.

He’s got his computer loaded when Baz comes out rubbing his hair with a towel. 

“Hey. I just realized I’ve never asked you if you’re actually gay.” Simon blurts and almost immediately regrets it. 

“Is that just a statement or are you actually asking?” 

“I’m asking.” 

“Well, yes I am.” 

“Okay.” 

Baz furrows his brows. 

“Okay?” 

“Yeah.” 

Baz rolls his eyes and crosses his arms. 

“What about you?” 

“Are you asking if I’m gay?” 

“No, I’m asking if you’re planning a trip to Switzerland.” He says sarcastically. “Yes-- I’m asking if you’re gay.” 

“I don’t know.” He shrugs. “I think I like boys and girls. I don’t know.” 

“Okay.” Baz says and lays down on his bed. 

“I thought we were gonna watch another scary movie!” Simon pouts. 

Baz just sighs. “Alright.” He heaves himself up and lays beside Simon. 

They watch another scary movie and when it’s over it’s pretty dark out and Baz is ready to go to bed. But when he gets up and Simon closes and puts away his laptop he can see Simon wide eyed and shivering a little. 

“That one got me.” He mutters. 

“You can leave the light on if you need to.” 

Simon just swallows and nods. 

“Are you sure you’re going to be able to sleep?” Baz asks worriedly. 

“Maybe.” He shrugs under his blanket. 

Baz bites his lip and just stands there for a second, thinking. 

“Do you... want- I can- uh.” Baz stutters uncharacteristically. “Do you want me to... you know.” He gestures to Simon’s bed. 

Simon thinks for a second and then looks at him. “Yes.” He says. Baz nods and gets in the bed beside him. 

“Can I turn the light off?” Baz asks. 

“Yeah.” 

So baz turns the light off and turns back towards Simon. Simon leans closer to him and presses his face to Baz’s chest. 

“I know it’s stupid to get scared over movies. I’m an adult and I still get scared.” He laughs. 

“It’s not stupid.” Baz puts an arm around Simon, over his waist. And Simon smiles a little bit. 

“Thanks. For everything I mean. Lots of people get to bring their dates now.” He says sleepily. 

Baz just chuckles. “Go to sleep, Simon.” 

“You called me Simon.” 

“Go to sleep, Snow.” 

And he does.


	3. Spaghetti

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ

When Baz wakes up with Simon’s body on top of his, his face in the crook of his neck, he almost has a heart attack. His memory comes back and he remembers it only happened because Simon couldn’t sleep because of that stupid movie. 

He gently rolls Simon off of him. He pads his way over to the bathroom to brush his teeth and pee. When he comes back out Simon is stirring. It’s already almost lunch time and Baz wonders how the hell they managed to sleep so long. 

“Wake up.” Baz says as he pushes Simon’s shoulders lightly. 

“Huh?” He groans. 

“It’s almost lunch time.” 

“Huh?” 

“Get up.” Baz pulls his arms but Simon just ends up clinging to him like a child. “Simon.” He warns but then Simon head rests on his shoulder and his arms cross behind his neck and his legs hook around Baz’s waist and suddenly he’s holding Simon by the small of his back. 

He shivers at Simon’s warm breath on his neck. Then he gets an idea. He turns his head and leans against Simon’s. 

“Simon...” He whispers in his ear. 

“Hmm?” He practically moans it.

“Wake up!” He yells. Simon yelps and falls off of Baz and almost to the floor but Baz catches his arms and yanks him up. Simon’s chest bumps against his and he looks up at Baz with big eyes. 

“That was mean.” He whispers. 

“I saved you, didn’t I?” 

“My hero.” Simon rolls his eyes and steps away from Baz and goes to the bathroom, presumably to pee and brush his teeth like Baz. 

Baz wonders if that was too far but decides it was Simon’s own fault for climbing onto him like a koala. 

Simon’s brushing his teeth and thinking about how nice it felt to be held by Baz and how even though he yelled in his ear, the whisper right before it made him red in the face and it was all just too much but somehow still not enough. 

“New day, new set of pajamas.” Simon mumbles sleepily when he walks out of the bathroom. 

“Actually you might wanna change. The roads are open and I was thinking we could go out and get something for lunch.”

“Where do you want to go?” Simon asks, already picking out stuff to wear. 

“Well pizza is always a safe bet.” Simon nods in agreement to that. “But there’s also an actual Italian place that’s closer by.” 

“Yes that’s good. I’ve been craving pasta.” 

“You always crave everything.” Baz laughs and ruffles Simon’s hair as he passes him to go to the bathroom to change. 

Simon smiles when Baz can’t see him because he absolutely loves when Baz does that and he wishes he had the courage to do it too. He has to keep reminding himself that while their friendship is actually real now, their “relationship” isn’t. 

He changes and his heart hurts a little bit when he remembers that the dance is a week away. And after that week they’ll stop pretending to date. Simon isn’t sure if being friends with him afterwards will be easier or harder than being borderline enemies. 

All Simon does know is that he doesn’t want to stop this. He wants to keep holding Baz’s hand. He wants to keep hugging Baz whenever he feels like it. And he wants more than that. He wants to kiss Baz and go on real dates with Baz and he wants to celebrate holidays with Baz and he wants to do more with Baz and that scares him. 

Sure, he found Baz objectivity attractive. And if he was being completely honest, the fact that he found Baz attractive really helped him discover his sexuality. But he never thought of him in a romantic way. Mostly because he was sure Baz hated him. But now it’s different. And he blushes at the thought of doing ‘more’ with Baz. He has to calm himself down because well... his jeans are already tight as they are naturally and he can’t afford for them to get tighter. 

He’s looking through his phone when Baz comes out. He’s just wearing black skinny jeans and a white, thick, long sleeve shirt. But Simon involuntarily smiles when he sees him. 

Simon is just wearing blue jeans that fit his legs perfectly and a light green T-shirt. But Baz involuntarily smiles when he sees him. 

“Ready to go?” 

“Yeah.” Simon grabs his coat and Baz grabs his own when they leave. 

Holding each others hands is like a second nature and they’ve only been fake dating for three days. 

They walk to the bus stop and sit on the bench, huddling close to stay warm. The bus gets there and they board it, sitting beside each other.

It’s a short ride to the bus stop that’s closest to the restaurant. When they get there Baz holds the door open for him and Simon squeezes his arm. In both of their heads they’re just convincing themselves that they’re keeping up the whole act because there’s a chance that someone from school could be there. 

When Simon gets in he smiles at the smell of food. It’s one of his favorite things. 

“Do you know what you want?” Baz asks, walking up beside him. 

“Spaghetti. And breadsticks, can we get breadsticks?” He turns to Baz, smiling. 

Baz rolls his eyes but can’t fight the small grin on his face. “Sure.” 

So Simon gets spaghetti and Baz gets fettuccine alfredo and they share breadsticks. 

They talk about more things they don’t know about each other, like favorite books and tv shows and stuff like that. And when Baz goes to pay they fight over the check before Baz says something that shuts Simon up. 

“This is a date so I’m paying.” He says, already going to pay even though Simon hadn’t replied yet. 

“Okay.” Simon whispers breathlessly. 

Baz glances at him from where he’s signing his name on a receipt and smiles softly with his mouth closed. And Simon can’t help but smile back. 

“Hey let’s go to the bookstore!” Simon tugs at Baz’s hand. 

“Slow down!” 

They get to the bookstore and Simon lets go of Baz’s hand to sprint to the Harry Potter section. 

“Snow, you already have every book in the series.” 

“I know! But a man can dream.” 

“Of what? To have an infinite amount of copies?” 

“Exactly.” 

“You’re crazy.” 

“That’s true.” He gets up and grabs Baz’s hand again as they browse around the store.

Baz ends buying some poetry book that Simon has never heard of but still makes Baz agree to let him borrow it when he’s done. 

“Should we wait for the bus or just walk it?” Simon asks. 

“It’s freezing, Snow. We’re going to wait for the bus.” He shakes his head and pulls Simon to the bench at the bus stop. 

They’ve only been waiting a couple minutes when Simon groans. 

“My nose is frozen.” He sniffs. 

“Warm it up with your other hand.” Baz suggests. 

So Simon takes his hand out of his pocket and makes a loose fist, putting his nose in the open hole. Baz looks down at him, slouched and red from the cold and holding his own nose. He smiles and chuckles and Simon looks up at him. 

“What?” 

“Nothing.” Baz looks away still smiling. 

Just a moment later the bus finally arrives and they board. Simon sighs with relief at the warm of it. They’re back on campus within 20 minutes and Baz can feel Simon shivering as they walk the five or six minute walk to their dorm building. 

“Are you alright?” He asks. 

“My stupid coat is too thin. I grabbed the wrong one when we left.” He rubs at his nose. 

Baz stops walking and lets go of Simon’s hand, starting to pull off his coat to give to Simon because he can’t stand to see him all cold and upset. 

“No no! You’ll get cold.” He tries to shove the jacket back onto Baz’s shoulders. 

“It’s only another five minutes, I’ll survive. You’ve been shaking half the time we’ve been out. So just let me give it to you.” 

Simon nods and lets Baz drape it over his shoulders and hold it while Simon puts his arms in. It’s bigger than Simon’s so it covers all of the stuff his already wearing with a little bit of wiggle room left. 

“Thanks.” He takes Baz’s hand again and they keep walking. 

They get back to the room and Simon collapses in his bed. 

“So... tired.” He mumbles. 

“Take a nap.” Baz says. 

“I might.” He takes off both coats and crawls under his blankets. 

“What are you doing?” Simon asks when Baz pulls out his laptop. 

“I have to finish a couple paragraphs of my essay that’s due Monday.” 

“Come sit over here.” 

“No, you’ll distract me.” 

“No I wooonntttt.” He whines. 

Baz sighs and sits in Simon’s bed, leaning against the wall and sliding his legs under the covers. 

“Warm.” Simon smiles and presses his face into Baz’s leg. 

Baz’s heart feels all weird and he says ‘fuck it’ in his mind and decides he can type with one hand until Simon falls asleep because he wants to run a hand through his hair. So he does. He pets his head gently and slowly. And Simon hums and leans his head up, falling asleep after just a couple minutes. 

He finishes his essay in an hour and manages to slide away from Simon to put his laptop away. He realizes the cafeteria is about to start serving dinner and he wonders how time went by so fast. But he forgets about that and heads out so he can bring food back up to the room. 

When Simon wakes up, Baz isn’t there. He frowns and gets up, going to his dresser to put sweatpants on. Somehow Simon is even more tired but it’s more like a groggy feeling. He leaves the room yawning to look for Baz. His first instinct is to go to the library. When he doesn’t find him there he realizes he didn’t get his key when he left. So he just starts wandering the halls. 

When Baz gets back Simon isn’t in the room. He sighs and sets the food down and after waiting for a minute he leaves go look for him. 

After both of them have been wandering for a while they finally run into each other. Simon smiles and walks up to him, pressing his face into Baz’s chest and his arms going around his waist. Baz puts his arms over Simon’s shoulders and rubs his back lightly. He can feel Simon smiling and he hopes Simon can’t feel his heart beating at the speed of light. 

“Where were you?” Baz asks. 

“You weren’t in the room when I woke up so I went looking for you.” He mumbles. 

“I was getting dinner, you impatient hellion.” He brushes his hand through Simon’s hair. 

“What does ‘hellion’ mean?” 

“Troublemaker.” 

“Mmm.” Simon nods into his chest and hums. 

“C’mon. People are staring.” 

Simon only huffs and lets go of Baz. He grabs his hand and they start walking. 

“Oh, I also forgot my key so I couldn’t get back in.” Simon tells him. 

Baz only shakes his head. 

They get back and eat dinner and talk. Simon thanks him for getting it all.

After Simon has taken his shower, Baz takes his. He gets out to see Simon already asleep in bed and he doesn’t want to overstep his boundaries so he just goes to his own bed and gets under the blankets. It’s not as warm without Simon beside him. 

“Why are you over there?” Simon whispers. 

“Did you... want me to come over there?” 

“Yeah. I’m cold.”

Baz walks slowly through the dark to Simon’s bed. He slides under the covers and Simon scoots up next to him, heat radiating off of him. 

“We have that double date tomorrow.” Simon mumbles. 

“I know.” 

“We need to get our story together.” 

“I already told Trixie we’ve been together for three months.” 

“Yeah but what if they ask how we got together? Or just like other relationship stuff.”

“Okay well... we can say we got together just randomly one day.” 

“When’s our anniversary?” 

“We can just say...” He thinks of a random number. “the 14th. Is that good?” 

“Then the valentines dance is on our ‘anniversary’.” Simon laughs. 

“And we got together because one day you pronounced your undying love for me by throwing rocks at my window and shouting it at full volume and-“ 

“Shut up!” Simon laughs and Baz laughs with him. 

“We can just make up other stuff on the spot.” 

“Alright.” 

“Goodnight, Snow.” 

“Goodnight, Baz.”


	4. Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boof

“Wake up! We’ve got an hour to get ready and be at the cafe.” Baz hears Simon say as he stirs. 

He groans and throws himself out of bed. Simon’s bed. Simon’s already changed and is looking fully awake. 

“It’s 11am. How are you already awake? Did you get breakfast?” Baz asks and rummages through his clothes. 

“I just went down and ate a scone and had some juice. So I’m pretty good right now.” 

Baz nods and goes to the bathroom to change and get ready. When he comes out Simon is sitting and putting his shoes on. 

“I was thinking we could go to the drugstore first. I gotta pick some stuff up.” Simon says, standing once his shoes are on. 

“Sure.” Baz slides into his sneakers and grabs his thickest coat. “Make sure you grab the right coat today. I’ve got a T-shirt on so I can’t afford to give you my coat again.” He smirks and grabs his keys. 

Simon rolls his eyes and pulls a thick sweatshirt on. 

“That’s mine.” Baz notes. 

“Oh well.” Simon shrugs. Baz blushes a little bit but Simon can’t see. Simon wearing his sweatshirt is such a stereotypical ‘boyfriend’ thing. And it’s his old football sweatshirt and it’s got his number and last name so everyone will know that it’s his but Simon is wearing it. And that makes him flush for some reason. 

Simon loves how the sweatshirt is too big and really thick and how it smells like Baz. They hold hands as they walk to the bus stop, the drugstore is right across the street from it. 

“What did you need?” Baz asks when they get inside, dropping Simon’s hand even though he doesn’t want to. 

“Shampoo, chapstick, and we need toilet paper.” 

“I’ll go find chapstick and toilet paper and you get shampoo. So we can save time.” 

So they separate and find what they need. Baz gets normal toilet paper and he hesitates when he gets to the chapstick area. He can’t get the thought of Simon kissing him with soft, warm, strawberry chapstick-ed lips out of his brain. So he doesn’t get strawberry. But then when he considers mint chapstick all he can think about is the smell of spearmint on his lips as he leans into Simon and presses his mouth onto his. So he doesn’t get mint. 

But that happens with every different chapstick. He thinks about slow blueberry kisses and lazy vanilla lips parting sweetly. He thinks about how soft and hot Simon’s lips would be, no matter what stupid chapstick he gets. So he shakes his head and grabs the strawberry chapstick because if he has to fantasize about Simon’s lips he wants them to be soft and pink and taste like strawberries when he kisses him. 

“Hey.” Simon interrupts his thoughts, making him jump. “Ready?” 

“Yeah.” Baz says and walks to check out with him. 

“Do you think we have time to go back and put this in the room before we go to the cafe?” Simon asks when they walk out.

“Well we’re going to have to pass our building anyway so sure. When we get there I can just run up and throw it in.” 

“Okay. But I want the chapstick to carry around with me.” 

Baz takes it out of the bag while they walk and Simon opens the packaging and puts the tube in his pocket. He throws away the garbage in a can by the entrance of their building. 

“I’ll be down here.” Simon says as he sits on a chair in the lobby. 

Baz gets to the dorm room and puts the stuff in the bathroom, taking the bag with him to throw away in the lobby of the building. 

When he gets back down he sees some short brown haired boy talking to Simon and he throws the bag away and walks over to him. 

“...No, I have a boyfriend.” He hears Simon say. 

“He doesn’t have to know.” He hears the boy say. He walks into view. 

“Simon?” He asks. The boy widens his eyes and Baz glares. 

“Oh thank God.” Simon mutters under his breath. He gets up and practically glues himself to Baz’s chest. 

“Can I help you?” Baz asks, throwing his arm around Simon’s waist and playing with his hair with his other hand. Simon loves how protective he is and for the millionth time he has to remind himself that this is all fake. 

“N-no I... no I’m fine. Thanks. Sorry.” He stutters. Baz smirks and the boy almost runs away. 

“You alright?” Baz asks Simon, letting him nuzzle into his shoulder. 

“Yeah. Let’s go before we end up being late.” He pulls away but grabs Baz’s hand and they start walking. 

The double date goes a lot better than expected. Trixie is a lot calmer around her girlfriend, Keris. They exchange funny stories and Simon and Baz manage to not tell relationship related stories, since they haven’t really been together for three months like they’ve been telling people. 

Trixie tells a story about how a guy hit on Keris and she rejected him so harshly he cried. They all laugh and Simon tells them about what just happened. 

“Actually, just like twenty minutes ago a guy was hitting on me in the lobby and I was like ‘I have a boyfriend’ and he did that stupid ‘he doesn’t have to know’ shit.” He rolls his eyes. “But thankfully Baz showed up and scared him off.” He turns to Baz, smiling and running his hand on his bicep. 

“How did you guys get together?” Trixie asks. 

They explain with answers they prepared and after another 30 minutes everyone’s ready to go. 

“That was fun guys! We’ve got to hang out at the dance.” Trixie says before they leave. “I do kind of owe it to you for standing up to the teacher, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to actually go together. It was kinda weird that he singled you out.” 

“I know right! I thought it was too. He’s kind of a shit person.” Simon shrugs. 

They part ways and Simon and Baz stand outside. 

“Do you have any more homework?” Simon asks Baz before they start walking. 

“No. Do you?” 

“No. Let’s go see a movie.” 

“Alright.” 

So they wait for the bus, it’s a little longer of a ride to the movie theater. 

“What should we see?” Baz asks when they look at the sign of current movies showing. 

“Well not anything scary, that’s for sure.” 

Baz laughs. “Let’s see that.” He points to a title. 

“I have no idea what that is.” 

“Me neither.” Baz smiles. “Let’s go.” 

“Baz!” Simon chuckles.

The movie starts and it’s so ridiculously boring but they paid for a movie so they’re going to get a movie. Simon pushes up the arm rest in between them and scoots closer to Baz. He nudges his arm until Baz gets the hint and puts his arm around Simon. Simon leans into his side and brings his legs up to his body, hugging them. 

And neither of them say anything because they don’t want the movie to end even though they’re on the verge of falling asleep. By the time the movie is over they just sit there for a second before Simon sighs and stands up to stretch. 

“It’s not even 3pm. What are we gonna do for the rest of the day?” Simon asks. 

“I don’t know. It’s so cold so it’s not like we can do much outside.” 

“We’ll just have to busy ourselves until dinner.” Simon shrugs as they walk out of the theater. 

“And then get bored again after that.” Baz says.

“Niall is throwing a party tonight. We could go to that.” 

“On a Sunday night?” Baz scoffs. 

“Why not? Neither of us have classes until after 9am.” 

Baz sighs. “I guess if you really want to go then we can.” 

“Yay!” 

They get back to their room and Baz rereads his essay while Simon watching something on Netflix. 

They go down to dinner holding hands and eating together, like a normal couple. And they go back up to their room. 

“I don’t think I wanna go to that party.” Simon says when he flops down on his bed. 

“Okay good because I really didn’t want to go.” 

“I might go and sneak some alcohol out and then come back.” 

“Simon Snow you are a rebel.” Baz teases. 

“Shut up.” 

And so when the party starts a few hours later, Simon tells Baz he’ll be back soon and Baz says okay and Simon leaves to go. 

People ask him where Baz is and he just laughs awkwardly and says that he’s tired. He gets to the kitchen and finds a half full bottle of vodka. He also takes a couple of canned sodas and puts them in his sweatshirt pocket. He’s about to leave when he sees chips and salsa that are untouched. He doesn’t think he’d be able to get away with taking it though. He should feel bad about stealing stuff from the party and not even staying but he doesn’t. 

So he goes for it. He puts the lid on the salsa and holds the chips under his arm. And somehow, miraculously, he manages to slip out the door with no one noticing. 

He laughs to himself all the way back to his room. He has to kick the door lightly because he doesn’t want to drop anything. Baz opens the door and looks confused. 

“What the hell?” 

Simon puts the chips and salsa down on the dresser. Then the vodka beside it. Then the two sodas. He smiles at Baz triumphantly. Baz only rolls his eyes affectionately.

“Alright what are we starting with?” Baz asks. 

Simon pulls out two plastic cups from a cupboard that acts like a pantry for them. He pours a can of soda in them, half in each, then he adds the vodka. 

“Here.” Simon smiles and hands Baz a cup. 

“Bottoms up.” Baz smirks and takes a long drink. Simon has to mentally slap himself to remember to drink. All he can think about is the way lips turn up when he smirks and how his eyes slant mischievously. 

He drinks a little too much at once and blinks hard. 

“Food.” He turns to the salsa, opening the bag of chips and eating. 

“Don’t eat them all.” Baz whines and gets his own chip. 

Baz feels a little buzzed but he almost breaks into a sweat when he remembers why he never drinks. He’s a ridiculously flirty drunk. And he’s already had enough to know he’s gonna be there soon. 

“Hey. I’m gonna leave.” He says stupidly.

“What?” 

“I’m embarrassing when I’m drunk. And I’ll be drunk in a few minutes probably.” 

“Baz I don’t care.” He waves him off and drinks another big gulp of his drink. “I’m embarrassing too.” 

Baz eats more chips, hoping it will slow down the process of becoming drunk, somehow. 

“Hey let’s dance!” Simon laughs. Baz looks into his cup to see that it’s all gone. 

“Christ, Snow. You drank it all.” 

“Yep!” He smiles brightly at Baz and Baz just says ‘fuck it’ under his breath, downing the rest of his drink. 

“Alright. Let’s dance.” He wipes at his mouth. 

“I have a perfect song.” Simon giggles. He plays Livin La Vida Loca and Baz snorts. 

Simon grabs his hands and they dance shamelessly. Simon laughs as they shimmy together. After dancing for almost an hour to songs that come up from Simon’s playlist they’re both panting and sweating. Simon’s laughing but stops when Baz pulls him close. 

“Hey.” Baz whispers looking down at him. His eyes look devilish and he licks his lips, his gaze flickering around Simon’s face as he trails a hand up his neck and pushes his own hair back with the other hand. 

“Hi.” Simon says breathless. He’s too inebriated to be embarrassed by his heart beating fast and his face flushing. But he can pretend it’s just from all the dancing. 

Simon nearly moans at the small evil smile on Baz’s face because damn he’s hot and he knows this is just what Baz meant about being embarrassing when he’s drunk, but he’s dangerously close to just jumping on him right there. 

Simon bites his lip and Baz lets out a slow exhale that Simon can feel on his cheek. 

Simon is dizzy and he hopes this isn’t just an alcohol induced dream. Baz leans down and presses his face into Simon’s neck. Simon holds onto Baz’s sides weakly, breathing shakily. 

“I’m tired.” Baz whispers. 

“Wha-“ 

But then Baz’s weight falls onto him and he nearly topples over. He manages to push Baz to his bed and get the covers over him. Then his own tiredness washes over him and he takes his shirt off because he’s sweaty and he lays in bed, falling asleep almost instantly.


	5. Snapping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk why this one is so short but here u go

Baz wakes up to an incessant beeping sound. He falls out of bed with a thud and a groan. Simon wakes up at the thud. He smacks the alarm clock off and Baz lets out a sigh of relief. 

“Are you okay?” He asks Baz sleepily. 

“What do you think?” He snaps and gets up to walk to the bathroom. Simon feels a little hurt but chalks it up to being hungover and hitting the ground first thing in the morning. 

Baz is really mad for some reason. And falling on the floor and Simon being shirtless increased that anger. He tries to calm himself down while he brushes his teeth. 

Simon’s changed while Baz is in the bathroom. He doesn’t have a class for another hour but Baz has to leave for his soon. Baz comes out and gets his clothes, then goes back in. Simon hears the shower run. 

Baz takes a quick shower and hopes the hot water will help him ease up a little. He’s only in there for a few minutes and by they time he’s put his new clothes on he still is snappy. He wants to calm down but he just can’t. He’s getting irritated by every little thing. 

He steps out and Simon walks in to brush his teeth. He puts all his stuff in his backpack and pulls his coat on. Simon comes out as he’s zipping his bag and throwing it over his shoulders. 

“Ready?” Simon asks, grabbing his own jacket. 

Baz exhales sharply and leaves by himself, half slamming the door. 

Simon’s eyes get hot. He doesn’t know what he could have done to make Baz so mad at him. He worries maybe he did something when he was drunk but he can’t remember. 

Baz realizes halfway through class why he’s so mad at Simon. He remembers that he was all over Simon right before he fell asleep. Well he doesn’t remember the exact details but he remembers he loosely cupped his neck and he pressed his face into the soft warm skin there right before he fell asleep. God he hopes nothing else happened. 

But he’s mad at Simon because he’s mad at himself. For letting himself go and probably freaking him out. So he’s putting distance in between them. That’s been his previous coping mechanism after all. 

The day goes by and they don’t see each other because of their overlapping schedules. The only time they’re guaranteed to see each other is after dinner. But after dinner Simon goes on a walk. It’s still freezing outside but most of the snow has melted away. 

He goes to the campus park and sits at a bench, letting his head fall on the table. He just sits there and breathes for a while. But after a little while he gets bored and walks to the bus stop. He doesn’t know where he’s going but he doesn’t want to go back to the dorm. He should have expected Baz to go back to hating him at some point. But he was hoping he could indulge himself a little longer. And he needed him to be his date to the dance. 

He gets off at the stop that’s closest to a cafe. It’s not the one on campus so it’s a little nicer. He gets tea and works on an essay. An hour passes and he realizes it’s dark out so he puts his stuff away. Before he leaves he gets a scone and an iced coffee to go. 

He walks back to campus even though it’s about a 30 minute walk. He finishes the scone and coffee just before he gets to his dorm building so he throws away the empty cup in the lobby and walks up the stairs to his room. 

Baz is there at his desk and only glances over at Simon for a second before turning his eyes back to the book he’s got opened. Simon doesn’t say anything to him, he just goes to get pajamas from his dresser and take a shower. 

When he gets out he gets into bed, facing away from where Baz sits. He just reads stuff on his phone until he falls asleep. 

Baz has been busying himself all day. But when Simon walks in looking slightly sad it breaks his heart. He considers apologizing to him but when he gets out of the shower he goes straight to bed. 

He can’t stand the image of Simon frowning as it repeats in his mind. So he wakes Simon up. 

“What?” He mumbles. 

“I wanted to apologize for snapping at you.” 

“Okay.” 

“I- I was just mad about other stuff and I took it out on you and I’m sorry.” 

“Okay.” 

Baz just stands there for a second as Simon stares at him sleepily. Baz assumes that’s as much as he’s going to get from him so he starts to go to his own bed. 

“Wait.” Simon says. “Sleep here.” 

Baz looks at him to see his eyes pleading. “Please.” He says. 

“Okay.” 

 

Simon must not remember what happened so Baz slips under the covers. They don’t touch though. Simon just sleeps facing away from Baz and Baz falls asleep on his back.


	6. Orange juice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Simon gets a lil saucy ;)

Simon wakes up next to something warm. He realizes it’s Baz. His arm is over his stomach and his face is pressing into his arm. Suddenly his alarm goes off. He startles and Baz wakes up, smacking the off button. 

He groans and takes Simon’s arm, pulling it off of him lightly and getting out of Simon’s bed. Baz changes his shirt right in front of Simon and goes to the bathroom. He’s really tired and especially lazy today so he doesn’t take a shower. He doesn’t even change his pants. 

Simon brushes his teeth when Baz exits the bathroom. 

“Do you want to come to breakfast with me?” Baz asks when he’s got his coat and backpack on. “I can’t stay and eat, I just pick it up and eat it on the way to class. But if you want to come...” 

“Yeah.” Simon grabs his coat and they walk out. 

They hold hands and they love it because their hands are so warm and they didn’t hold hands at all yesterday. They go to the cafeteria building and Baz picks up orange juice and some slices of bacon. They can’t hold hands again until Baz finishes the bacon. When he does they return to intertwined fingers. 

Baz gets to his class and stands outside the doorway. Suddenly Simon leans up and kisses him softly on the cheek and sneakily takes the rest of the orange juice from Baz’s hand. 

Baz’s face burns where Simon’s lips press against his high cheek, almost at the corner of his eye. Simon smiles when he pulls back. 

“I’ll see you later.” He squeezes Baz’s hand as he walks away. 

Baz stands there stunned for a moment before a smile breaks out on his face. He has to bite his lip when he finally walks into class. 

Simon spends all day getting distracted by how soft Baz’s skin was. He has to rush to get to his classes because he doesn’t focus when he walks and ends up going past the rooms he’s supposed to go to. 

Baz looked a little shocked when he kissed his cheek, but not disgusted, so that was something. Simon thinks maybe he can get Baz to like him in the same way that he likes him. 

They can’t go to lunch together because of their schedules. But they meet for dinner. Simon sits beside Baz after he’s gotten his food. 

“Hey.” He takes his backpack off and sits it on the ground beside him. 

“Hi.” Baz eats a snap pea from his plate. 

“Do you have a lot of homework?” Simon asks, picking at his food. 

“No, I did it during lunch.” He shrugs. 

“I’m gonna do mine when I get back to the room. Even though I have my last class after that.” 

“Is it a lot?” 

“Nah. Just an essay but its not due until Friday. And we’re supposed to study for a test tomorrow but it’s science so I’ll only need to study for like 10 minutes.” 

They talk more while they eat and go back to their room. Simon works on his essay and studies for about 20 minutes. 

“I just got a whole page done in half an hour.” Simon beams. 

“You’d better hurry to class, nerd.” Baz smiles. 

“Oh shit. I’ll see you later!” He grabs his bag and runs out. 

When he gets back Baz is sitting on the ground. 

“Hey.” He says, not looking up. 

“Are you panting your nails?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Where... where did you get polish?” 

“I went to the drugstore for some lotion and while I was looking I saw polish on sale. I got black because I’m internally goth.” 

“What do you use lotion for?” Simon jokes and wiggles his eyebrows. 

“For my face. Do you think this is enough lotion to jack off with? Idiot.” He rolls his eyes and holds up a small tin of lotion. 

“How can you just say ‘jack off’ so casually?” Simon lowers his voice when he says it. 

“Because it’s just a thing people do?” He says it like it’s a question. He closes the nail polish bottle and blows lightly on his nails. 

“Well... yeah but... still.” Simon mumbles. 

“Don’t be so immature.” Baz laughs. 

“I think referring to it as ‘jacking off’ is kind of immature.” 

“You’re the one that insinuated it!” He cracks up. 

“Oh shut up.” Simon puts his backpack down and lays on his bed. 

“Wait! Do you jerk off in our room?” He blurts out and instantly regrets it. 

Baz’s eyebrows furrow deeply and he looks up at Simon. “Christ, Snow! Do you have any boundaries?” 

“Sorry! It just popped into my head and I accidentally asked.” 

Baz shakes his head and goes back to blowing on his nails. 

The thought of Baz... touching himself, in that way, makes Simon blush and he’s thankful that Baz isn’t still looking at him. He calms himself down by thinking about the science test he has tomorrow. He studies in his head. 

“Can you believe the dance is in four days?” Baz says as he gets up and flops down on his bed. 

“Fuck, I don’t have anything to wear.” Simon realizes. 

“We can go to that suit place across town.” 

“When are we gonna have time? I don’t even have money for a suit. Shit.” 

“I’ll buy you one.” 

“No. No you can’t do that.” 

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve already got one and I can afford to buy another.” 

“No way, I’m not letting you buy me a suit.” 

“Mhm. We’ll see.” 

Simon sighs. “Well when are we even going to have the time to go?” 

“I don’t know. We can just pray that you can find something Saturday afternoon before the dance.” 

“I hope I can.” 

Baz takes a shower and puts on pajamas and gets into bed. Simon takes a shower after him and gets into his own bed. He’s too tired to even ask Baz to get in his bed so he just falls asleep.


	7. Drinks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn’t proofread so shrruugg

Baz wakes up a little disappointed that Simon isn’t beside him. He’s gotten so used it it’s scary. He sits up and turns the alarm clock off. He changes his pants but leaves on the sweatshirt he slept in. Simon starts to wake up. 

“Morning.” Baz says after he’s brushed his teeth. Simon grunts and goes to brush his own. 

“Hair.” Simon mumbles as he combs a hand through his hair, trying to get it to calm down. 

“You can use my brush if you want.” Baz says, collecting his things to put in his bag. Simon says thanks and uses it. 

“I don’t have time for breakfast today so you can go on the way to walking me to class.” Baz says. “If you want to.” He adds. 

“I’ll go on the way back.” Simon puts his coat on and follows Baz out the door. 

They hold hands like always and Baz wishes him luck for his science test later in the day. Simon keeps yawning and it keeps making Baz yawn too so he flicks the side of Simon’s head playfully and tells him to stop yawning. 

They reach Baz’s class and Simon kisses his cheek again. It’s a little firmer than yesterday and he lingers softly. He squeezes Baz’s hand like yesterday and yawns, covering his mouth, when he pulls away and tells him he’ll see him later. 

Baz smiles and then yawns and mutters ‘damn it’ under his breath because all this yawning is making him tired again. 

The day goes by like yesterday. They don’t get to see each other until dinner. 

“How did your test go?” Baz asks. 

“We don’t get the grades until tomorrow but I think I did pretty good.” 

“That’s good.” 

“Yeah.” 

They eat with occasional conversation.

“Hey my last class got cancelled because my professor got sick. Do you wanna go do something?” Simon tells him.

“Sure. What do you want to do?” 

“We could go for a drink? I don’t know, there’s not much to do on this side of town.” He shrugs.

“A drink doesn’t sound bad.” 

So after they finish dinner they go to their dorm and put away their backpacks. Baz’s changes into a grey button up and tight black jeans. He’s got his sleeves rolled up and he throws on a thick black coat. 

“Wait now I have to change!” Simon exclaims. 

“What? No you don’t.” Baz looks confused. 

“Yes I do.” He starts looking for clothes. “You look nice and I look like I’ve been asleep all day.” 

“So what? It’s cute.” 

Simon blushes and smiles a little but just says thanks and goes to the bathroom. He wears his nicest sweater, it’s light blue and knit. And black jeans. 

“Okay I’m ready.” He grabs a jacket and they leave, hand in hand. 

They walk to the bus stop and it’s a 7 minute ride to the bar. Baz holds the door open for Simon and they sit at two free seats at the corner of the bar. 

Baz gets a beer and Simon just gets coke and french fries. Baz takes a few on occasion as they talk. 

“I’m gonna go to the bathroom, I’ll be back.” Baz takes the last sip of his beer and gets up. 

When Baz gets back a few minutes later there’s an awkward lanky boy standing in front of Simon that looks like he’s trying way to hard to be punk and edgy. Like it’s not at all cool, but he probably thinks it is. Simon looks mildly uncomfortable but he sees Baz walking up and smiles in relief. 

“This is my boyfriend, Baz.” Simon says the words so casually and they feel so natural coming from his lips. 

The boy looks at Baz with what Baz thinks is supposed to be a hard, intimidating face. Baz is pretty much the king of intimidation, or at least Simon thinks. Baz stands beside Simon and smiles down at him where he sits when Simon’s arm goes around his waist. But when he looks back up at the boy it’s with a glare and an eyebrow raised. He puts his arm over Simon’s shoulders and plays with his hair with his other hand. 

“Can I help you?” He growls. 

“N-no.” The boy stutters and walks away quickly. 

Baz sighs and disentangles from Simon and sits down. 

“Why does that keep happening?” He eats one of Simon’s french fries. Simon shrugs. Simon secretly loves how protective Baz gets. And they aren’t even actually dating. And Baz secretly loves how Simon lights up when Baz saves him from the weird people that hit on him. 

“Tomorrow is Thursday. Woah.” Simon says suddenly. 

“Congratulations on the epiphany.” Baz chuckles. 

“No no... I just mean, the dance is three days away.” 

“Yeah that’s close.” 

“Should we get pink ties?” 

“Because it’s valentines day?” 

“Yeah!” 

“I... guess. If you want to we can look.” 

Simon smiles and finishes his drink. 

“It’s only 7pm.” He frowns. “Let’s go do something else.” 

“Like what?” 

Simon ponders for a second. “We can go to the nicer drugstore.” 

“Alright.” Baz shrugs and hands the bartender a tip and they leave. 

They take another short bus ride to the store. Simon makes a woah sound at all of the valentines gifts and decorations. 

“Look at these.” Baz pulls Simon lightly to a pair of light up heart shaped glasses. He puts them on and Simon laughs in that way that makes Baz smile. 

“Wait these are better.” Simon picks up glasses that say ‘love you’ with the eye holes where the O’s are. Baz laughs and they walk around with the glasses on.

They separate so Simon can look for new deodorant and Baz can look for more nail polish but Baz hears him laugh from a couple isles over. He hears Simon’s feet padding over to him. When he finds him he waves him over while laughing. He points to a box of valentines themed condoms. 

“I-“ Simon clutches his stomach. Baz laughs with him because they’re so ridiculous. They’re pink and ‘Cherry’ flavored and the box is covered in hearts. They manage to calm down and go to check out. They don’t get the glasses. Simon gets deodorant and Baz gets a light pink nail polish as well as remover because he forgot to get that before. 

They get back to the room and watch a movie even though they should be doing homework. Simon cuddles up to Baz while the laptop rests on his stomach. 

“When I start working again this summer, we should save up for a tv.” Simon mumbles. 

“That would be cool.” Baz agrees. 

The movie is over and Baz goes to take a shower and change. Simon goes after he does. He walks over to where Baz lays in bed. 

“Scoot over.” He whispers as he turns the lamp off. 

Baz scoots to the wall and turns to face Simon when he gets in. Simon puts his arm underneath Baz head so it rests on his bicep. He puts his other arm over his waist and pulls him a little closer. Baz puts one arm around his neck and winds his fingers in his hair. He presses his face into Simon’s collarbone and sighs. 

And then they fall asleep.


	8. Chinese food

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never proofread jfc

“Wake up.” Baz hears. Simon is pawing at his chest from beside him. He groans and shoves his face into the pillow. 

“No you have to wake up! You’ve got to leave for class it’s already 9:15.” 

Baz shoots up because his class is in 15 minutes and the walk alone takes roughly 10 minutes. He scrambles out of bed and brushes his teeth quickly. He throws on a sweatshirt but stays in the sweatpants he slept in. He shoves his papers into his backpack and slides his feet into his shoes. 

When they both leave the room Baz turns to Simon. 

“I’m sorry but you can’t walk me to class, we’ll start talking and I’ll get distracted. I’ll see you later, Okay?” He leans in and presses his lips to Simon’s cheek quickly. There’s only a few people in the hallway but he uses that as an excuse. 

He pulls back and smiles softly when he sees Simon smiling. Simon nods and pushes his shoulders lightly. “Go!” He laughs. 

Simon bites his lip and smiles when he walks back into the dorm room. 

Baz thinks about how he didn’t even need to think when he leaned in and kissed Simon’s cheek. It was lower than the place Simon’s kissed his. It was more like an instinct to press his lips to the soft and warm freckled skin. And he wishes he could just kiss his lips already. 

He manages to distract himself throughout the day and Simon does the same. Baz catches up with Simon before he goes to the cafeteria for dinner. 

“Hey!” He calls out to him. 

“Hi.” Simon grins slightly. 

“Let’s get dinner. After your last class I mean. I know it’ll be a late dinner but- if you want to I mean...” He trails off. 

“Yeah, sure.” Simon smiles and grabs his hand and they walk back to their dorm together. Simon works on his homework before his last class and Baz sees him off when he leaves. 

He gets back and throws his backpack on his bed. 

“Is it okay if I wear these clothes when we go out? I’m too lazy to change.” Simon sighs. 

“Yeah that’s fine, I’m not changing.” Baz gets up from his bed. 

“Are we going now? I’m starving.” 

“Sure, let’s go.” 

Baz grabs his key and they leave together.

“Where do you want to go?” Baz asks while they walk to the bus stop, holding hands like always. 

“Hmm... Chinese food sounds good.”

“We can go to that place a few streets over.” 

“We can the bus though right? It’s cold.” Simon asked. 

“Of course.” 

A lot of students spend time outside on campus, doing homework or hanging out with friends or just taking a break. So at this point, most of the school knows Simon and Baz are ‘dating’. Especially after every student in the LGBT community internally prayed to Simon for ‘coming out’, which convinced the primary chaperone of the dance to allow same sex couples to the dance together. 

So now they don’t really need to search for an excuse to hold hands or do ‘couple things’ together, because there’s almost always someone around, eyeing them suspiciously if they aren’t holding hands. 

So they wait at the bench at the bus stop. Simon puts his head on Baz’s shoulder and smiles to himself when Baz lays his over Simon’s. The bus comes after a few minutes and they get on. And then they get off when they’re on the street of the restaurant. 

They wait in a long line and Simon groans, pressing his face into Baz’s clothed arm. 

“We should have just ordered take out. We could have watched a movie while we ate.” He protests. 

“We could always order to-go if you really want.” He puts an arm around Simon and Simon smiles into Baz’s shoulder. 

“Nah. We’re already here so we might as well have a nice dinner.” 

Baz chuckles and rubs Simon’s shoulder blade. 

They eventually get a table and then their food. 

Simon smiles the whole time they’re there because it’s so easy talking to Baz and he feels so accomplished knowing that he can make Baz laugh that stupid perfect laugh where his eyes get smaller and his top teeth show. He gets distracted just looking at Baz talk. 

Simon doesn’t hate they way he himself looks, but he’s not the biggest fan of it. He’s got a couple crooked teeth and lots of freckles and moles. Baz has perfect teeth with slightly sharp canines and Simon thinks that makes his smile even cuter and he’s got extremely clear, tan, skin that Simon wants to kiss again because it’s so soft. 

“Hello? Earth to Snow?” Baz waves his hand in front of Simon and removes him from his trance. 

Simon shakes his head and blinks, realizing he barely blinked while he stared at Baz. “Sorry, I got distracted.” He takes a sip of his drink. 

“Looking at me?” Baz jokes but Simon doesn’t think before he speaks. 

“Yeah.” He blurts out and his eyes widen. 

“Oh...” Baz whispers. 

“No not- I mean, not like- it was like when you stare at one spot. A- and you just kind of zone out. You know- that- when that happens?” He stutters out and mentally slaps himself. 

“Yeah, I know what you mean.” Baz seems a little irritated. 

Simon instantly wants to flee the restaurant and never look back. But Baz is irritated because he shouldn’t have let himself hope Simon was staring at him because he liked the way he looked. 

The rest of dinner is kind of awkward and they don’t hold hands on the way back to their dorm. And they take their individual showers and get in their individual beds with only a few sentences exchanged. Simon is on his laptop finishing homework and Baz is just listening to music on his phone. And after a little while they go to bed.


	9. Kiss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im gonna post my first fic for the carry on countdown in a few hours!

It’s Friday and Baz wakes up a few minutes before his alarm goes off. He changes his clothes and brushes his teeth and leaves quietly. He doesn’t care anymore about the stupid fake relationship. He doesn’t care about anything anymore. He gets through his classes and distracts himself by drowning in his work. 

Simon wakes up just in time to leave for class. He feels a pang of hurt in his stomach when he realizes Baz didn’t wake him up when he left. He goes to classes and thinks about how irritated Baz was with him last night. 

Simon doesn’t stay in the cafeteria when he eats dinner. Instead he goes outside and eats his sandwich under a bare tree. 

Baz doesn’t stay in the cafeteria when he eats dinner. Instead he goes to the campus cafe and orders some soup. 

“Hey, Baz!” Trixie appears out of seemingly nowhere. 

“Oh- hey, Trixie.” Baz sips his drink. 

“How are you? And can I sit here?” She points to a chair in front of him.

“Yeah, and I’ve been alright. You?” Baz hates small talk but he’s good at it. 

“I’m good! Where’s Simon?” She opens a box she ordered before she sat down. She’s eating a cinnamon roll for dinner. Baz mentally rolls his eyes. 

“We got into a little... argument.” He chooses his words carefully. 

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” She looks at him sympathetically but not with any pity. It actually makes Baz feel better. “Y’know, I always wondered how you two went from basically hating each other to dating.” She laughs lightly. 

Baz decides Trixie is going to be his garbage can for today, because he’s about to vomit his feelings. 

“Truthfully, I’ve been in love with him since practically the first time we met. But I just assumed he was straight. So I acted like I hated him as some kind of defense mechanism or something.” 

“Wow... I’m glad you don’t have to do that anymore.” 

“Yeah...” Baz says with what he hopes isn’t some pathetic whine. 

They have a bit more of a conversation before Trixie has to leave. She makes him get up and hug her and he laughs to himself when he sits back down. 

Baz stays much longer than he needs to purely because he doesn’t want to run into Simon. He knows he’ll have to see him all day and night tomorrow, since he has to take him suit shopping. But he doesn’t think he can stand seeing him right now. 

Simon walks back to his dorm slowly. He’s just gotten back from his last class and Baz isn’t in. He takes a shower and climbs into bed in his pajamas and tries to distract himself on his phone. Eventually he gets restless and decides go for a walk. 

He throws a thick sweatshirt on and realizes it’s Baz’s but he doesn’t care because it smells like him. Putting his earbuds in, he walks out of the door and then out of the building. 

Baz didn’t leave the cafe until it was almost closing time. So now he’s just roaming around campus. 

Simon finds his way to the park and sits on a swing, listening to music and swaying lightly. After a couple songs have passed, one plays that hits his feelings a little too hard and he feels tears prick at his eyes. He sniffs loudly and rubs at his eyes. 

Suddenly he feels a presence near him and sees something out of the corner of his eye. He rips out his earbuds and yelps. He clutches at his heart when he realizes it’s Baz.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Baz says. 

“It’s okay.” Simon looks down at his phone to pause the music. “Did you want something?” He looks back up at Baz. 

“Yeah, uhm... I guess I wanted to talk.” 

Simon’s head hurts. “Okay.” 

“I don’t know if we should be doing this anymore.” 

Simon’s heart hurts. “Do what?” 

“This ‘dating’ thing. I know you still need to go to the dance with a guy but you should just ask one of those guys that hit on you or something. I can’t do this anymore.”

Simon feels like he’s going to throw up. His knuckles go white from gripping the chain of the swing so hard. He’s stopped moving. 

“Why not?” He doesn’t look up. 

“I just can’t.” 

Simon is silent for a minute. 

“I was looking at you.” 

“What?” 

Simon looks up at him, staring directly in his eyes. 

“Last night. I was looking at you. Because your smile is perfect and your skin is perfect and you’re always perfect no matter what you do and I hate that I love it so much. And I feel like I’m melting when you touch me but in the best way like when you put your arm around me or slip your hand into mine. And it’s fine that you don’t want to continue this, especially now that I’ve told you about how stupid I am to let myself fall in love with you in the span of a fucking week. But I’d rather just not go to the dance than to go with someone that isn’t you.” 

He breathes heavily and shakes his head. 

“-Well actually I’d find someone maybe just so every other gay couple could go but... I don’t know maybe not even that. It would be kind of hard to explain and I just-“ 

“Shut up.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

“God, I don’t know which one of us is a bigger idiot.” Baz runs a hand through his hair. 

“Im sor-“ 

“I’ve been in love with you since the first day I met you.” 

Simon’s eyes widen. “What?” 

“That’s why I wanted to stop this. Because it was too hard. Sometimes just looking at you is too hard. Do you know how fucking beautiful you are? God, I hate you.” He shakes his head. 

Simon’s brows scrunch together.   
“What- Which is it then? Do you love me or hate me?” 

“I think it’s both, if I’m honest,” He chuckles awkwardly. “but... definitely more love than hate.” He whispers the last part. 

Simon stands up.

“And... you think I’m... beautiful?” Simon whispers.

“I think you’re a ray of sunshine with stupid blue eyes.” He mumbles. 

“I’m going to kiss you now.” Simon smiles at him. 

“Okay.” Baz smiles softly back. 

Simon presses his lips to Baz’s gently and it reminds Baz of the way he feels when he pulls clothes fresh from the dryer. And Simon lips taste like that strawberry chapstick and they’re soft and pliable and Baz cups his face when he parts them with his own. 

Baz’s lips remind Simon of the way he feels when he takes a sip of hot chocolate and it’s just the right temperature. And his lips taste like tea and they’re smooth like the rest of him.

The kiss becomes passionate as one of Simon’s arms snake around Baz’s waist, his hand pressing into the small of his back, while the other holds his hip firmly and rubs small circles there. Baz hums and winds a hand through Simon’s hair and deepens the kiss. 

They feel like there’s a million fireflies buzzing around them as they push against each other’s mouths back and forth languidly. Their lips are parted and they exchange breath until they eventually have to break away to breathe their own air. 

Simon pulls back, panting, with his hands on Baz’s waist. Baz smiles so soft and genuine that Simon leans in again to kiss his jaw gently and grins into his skin. Baz makes a low sound and runs both hands through those curls he loves so much. 

“Simon...” He whispers. 

“Baz...” Simon whispers into the smooth skin of his neck. 

Baz pulls him more into an embrace and sighs into his hair. 

“Hey, this means we don’t have to ‘pretend’ to date anymore.” Simon says. 

“Simon Snow, are you asking me to be your boyfriend?” 

“If you’d have me.” 

“Gladly.” 

Simon pulls away and runs his hands through Baz’s hair and kisses him again. He parts from him with a quiet smacking sound. 

“I get to kiss you now.” Simon smiles while looking at his lips like there’s a spotlight shining on them. He cups Baz’s cheek and rubs the pad of his thumb on Baz’s lips gently. Baz blushes and smiles but looks away from him, almost embarrassed. 

“Can we go back to the room? It’s cold.” Baz asks. 

“Yeah.” Simon kisses him firmly one more time and starts walking, pulling him along. 

Simon is all excited and giddy and Baz smiles because he keeps squeezing his hand when they walk. 

“Hey that’s mine!” Baz pulls at the strings of his sweatshirt, that Simon is currently wearing. 

“I threw it on when I left. I didn’t realize it was yours until I was out the door.” Simon laughs. 

“You better not steal it.” Baz shakes his head as they walk into their room, closing the door behind him. 

“Well it’s not like I’ve got another place I could keep it besides here. But I’m gonna wear it a lot, if that’s what you meant.” 

“That’s exactly what I meant.” Baz kicks his shoes off. 

“Hey.” 

“What?” He turns to Simon and suddenly he’s being tugged down lightly. 

Simon pulls at his arm and cups his neck gently with his other hand. He guides Baz’s arm around his waist and brings his arm back up to rest it on Baz’s shoulder. 

He presses his lips to Baz’s and it’s somehow even more magical than the first. Baz sighs softly into his mouth and his breath catches when Simon pushes a tongue against the inside of Baz’s bottom lip. Baz runs his hands up and down Simon’s sides and opens his mouth wider slightly, letting Simon explore with his tongue. 

Simon makes a small sound when Baz’s tongue rubs against his slowly. He feels like he could explode because everything is so slow and warm. Baz’s mouth is warm and his lips push against his slowly and his tongue is making him dizzy. 

Baz feels a little saliva start to drip from his mouth so he begrudgingly pulls away and wipes at his mouth. His cheeks redden when he sees Simon lick his lips and gaze at him like he just stole the stars and gifted them all to him. 

He’s still got his hand on Baz’s shoulder and the other on his neck. Baz puts both of his hands on Simon’s hips again and starts rubbing them up and down his sides like before. He leans down and kisses Simon’s neck, beaming when a little whimper comes out of his mouth. 

He presses soft kisses with parted lips all over the freckled skin, paying special attention to those moles he’s always loved. When he’s done he presses a chaste kiss to Simon’s cheek and smiles at him sweetly when he sees him already smiling. 

“Let’s watch a movie and go to bed.” Simon says. Baz nods and they get into Baz’s bed. Simon takes his laptop out and he puts it on the nightstand that Baz has pulled so it’s easier for them to see without craning their heads.

Baz spoons Simon and kisses his shoulder while he looks for a movie. 

They end up falling asleep curled around each other.


	10. Dancing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter! I hope everyones enjoyed this story! Im writing new chapters for my other two ongoing fics but it might be awhile before the come out, im really busy making sure i keep up with the carry on countdown lol

Simon wakes up with his face pressed into the crook of Baz’s neck. His skin is warm and Simon’s pushes closer to him. 

“Good morning.” Baz mumbles in a low, sleepy, voice. And Simon loves it. He makes a returning sound against Baz’s skin. 

Baz exhales slowly and brings his hand up to brush through Simon’s hair gently. Simon sighs and wraps his arm tighter around Baz’s hips. 

“We’ve got to get up soon.” Baz whispers into hid mess of curls. 

“Nooo...” 

“We’ve got to get ready and go find you a suit.” 

Simon sighs again and presses a soft kiss to Baz’s neck before pulling away and sliding off the bed dramatically. 

Simon yawns and goes to brush his teeth while Baz changes out of his pajamas. And then vice versa. Baz grabs his keys as Simon is slipping his sneakers on. 

“Ready?” 

“Yeah.” Simon stands. 

They walk out of the building hand in hand and make it to the cafeteria to grab breakfast. 

“Hey that’s my other sweatshirt!” Baz says in between bites of bagel. Simon’s wearing his black hoodie from his high school football team. It’s like his other one, it’s got “pitch” in all capital letters on the back above his team number, 61. 

“It’s roomy.” Simon flaps the sleeves that are too long for his arms. 

“You can’t just take all of my clothes.” He sips his water. 

Simon leans forward in his seat and kisses him innocently. When he pulls back he’s got a little pout on his face. 

“Fine.” Baz grumbles. Simon smiles and kisses his cheek before they finish their meals. 

“We’re going to that place across town right?” Simon asks as they walk to the bus stop. 

“Yeah. They’re pretty well priced.” 

“I still don’t want you to pay for it.” Simon says a little guiltily. 

“I have enough money. Just let me do something nice for my boyfriend.” He laughs. Simon rolls his eyes but squeezes his hand. 

When they get off the bus and walk to the suit warehouse Simon sighs. 

“There’s so many...” 

“Don’t worry, it’s not as intimidating once you narrow down what color you want.” 

A woman walks up and asks if she can be of assistance to them. So Baz informs her that Simon needs a suit and that he thinks he would probably look very good in grey. Simon doesn’t object because he trusts his opinion. 

The woman measures Simon and leaves to get a few options. He tries the first one on. It’s a light grey and Simon doesn’t quite like the shade so he tries on the second one. It’s a much darker grey but it’s not black. Simon likes it so he shows Baz and blushes when Baz compliments him relentlessly. He mumbles at him to shut up so he can change. He ends up getting that suit and a tie to match despite wanting to get pink ties. 

“Do you want to get some coffee at the cafe down the street?” Simon asks when they leave. 

“Yeah, sure.” Baz holds his hand and they walk. 

“Would you hold this?” He hands Baz the bag with his suit. “I’ve got to pee.” 

“Gross.” Baz laughs. 

“We all do it!” 

“Yeah yeah. Just go.” He shakes his head, smiling. 

Baz sits orders a drink and one he knows Simon likes and waits by the counter. When Simon gets back from the bathroom he sees a short girl with long blonde hair and he doesn’t even need to see her turn around to know who she is. His ex-girlfriend, Agatha. She’s in front of Baz and he’s got his chin tilted up as he looks down on her with a raised eyebrow. Simon knows that means he’s annoyed. He gets a little closer and they still don’t see him but he can hear them. 

“Here, you can put my number in my phone.” She says. 

“No thanks.” Baz frowns like he just smelled something bad. 

“What- Why not?” She twirls her hair around her finger and bats her lashes. Baz starts to sigh but Simon walks up and Baz smiles softly at him. 

Simon feels an unnatural possessiveness heat up his throat so he tugs on Baz’s arm and kisses him hard. Baz thinks he might have blacked out but he can feel Simon touch his stomach timidly while his lips are parting Baz’s own. Simon sighs into his mouth with a little sound. 

They part with a small noise and smile at each other. Simon turns. 

“Oh, hey Agatha! It’s been so long! How are you?” He intertwines his fingers with Baz’s and leans against his side. 

“I- Hey, Simon. I’m uh... good. You?” She stutters. 

“I’m great. Oh- I should introduce you! Baz, this is my old friend, Agatha. Agatha, this is my boyfriend, Baz.” He smiles brightly. 

“Hi.” Baz says with a stone face. 

Agatha dies internally because he looks like such a cold hearted, bitter person. But when he sees Simon he smiles like he just got the best present for his birthday or like he just won a competition. Like Simon was the only thing that made him completely happy. 

“It was nice to meet you, Baz. I’ve uhm, got to go. Nice seeing you, Simon.” She smiles politely and fake, and leaves. 

“What was that about.” 

“She’s my ex.” 

“She was trying to get me to go on a date with her.” 

“I know.” He kisses his cheek and they get their drinks.

They get back to their room and spend a few hours doing homework and watching some tv. 

“We should probably start getting ready for the dance.” Simon stretches as he stands. 

“Good idea.” Baz grabs his suit from his dresser. “I’ll change in the bathroom.” 

Simon nods and changes into his own suit. 

“You look amazing.” Simon sighs, lovestruck. Baz is wearing a normal black and white suit. 

“You don’t look half bad yourself.” Baz swoops in and kisses his jaw softly. 

“I’ve got to go grab something so I’ll meet you at the dance when it starts.” He whispers against his jawline. 

“Okay.” Simon shivers. Baz presses another kiss before pulling away and leaving quietly. 

Simon leaves after about half an hour to be able to get to the dance on time. When he gets there he can see there’s a lot of people already in the building. But there’s a decent sized group near the entrance that appears to be being denied access. 

“There’s Simon!” Someone calls out. Simon’s brows furrow as he walks to the front of the line to ask what’s going on. 

“There you are, Mr. Snow.” The homophobic teacher slash chaperone says. 

“Yeah hi. Why aren’t you letting anyone in?” When he looks back he realizes it’s only same sex couples. Or at least who he can see is. 

“Waiting to see if you and that rude boy are still together. But, I don’t see him with you so, I guess no one can go in.” He smirks. 

People start to overlap with chatter. But Simon hears someone clear their throat behind him. 

“Am I late?” A familiar voice asks. He does even need to turn around to know it’s Baz, but he does. 

And it is Baz. And he’s standing there with a single pink rose and a red and white box with a few scones in it. Simon smiles so hard he thinks he might break. He steps to Baz and puts a hand on his neck and kisses him like they are the only two people there. 

He hears a few whoops and whistles so after a second he pulls away and smiles sheepishly. 

“Fine. You may all go in.” The professor grumbles. 

Everyone cheers and some high five Simon as they walk in. After they’ve all gotten in, Simon turns to Baz and kisses him again. Making a point of pouring his heart into it, seeing at the professor is standing at the door still. 

“Thank you for these.” 

Baz smiles and kisses his forehead. 

“Let’s go dance.” He holds Simon’s free hand. Simon nods and they walk in. 

After two hours of socializing and eating all the snacks and a little bit of dancing, the final dance is announced. Wordlessly, Simon and Baz drift to the dance floor and cling to each other. Baz puts his arms around Simon’s waist and Simon’s go around his neck. He leans his head on Baz’s shoulder and nuzzles into his neck as they sway with the music. 

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Baz asks as they turn to the beat.

“Because I can.” Simon smiles.

Baz sighs but presses a quick kiss to his lips before they return to dancing.


End file.
